Food for Fun and Thought

Is Santa Having Trouble Buckling His Belt?

December 22, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It seems that Santa has some weight challenges – no small wonder with all of the cookies and milk left out for him on Christmas Eve! Plus, he uses a sleigh pulled by reindeer so he just slides down the chimney. That might be a tough task with that belly and big bag of presents, but it doesn’t use up a whole lot of calories.

On Christmas Eve, Santa visits an estimated 92 million households. Walking.about.com figures that if all households were evenly distributed across the earth, Santa would travel 0.78 miles between houses — for a total of 71,760,000 (71.8 million) miles.

What Are Santa’s Stats?

According to NORAD, Santa tips the scale at 260 pounds and he’s 5’7” tall, giving him a BMI of 40.7 — which, unfortunately, makes him obese.

Walking.about.com guessing that Santa weighs 250 pounds and thinking that he’s a pretty fast walker because he does have to get his deliveries done in one night, estimates that Santa burns 13 billion calories on Christmas Eve.

If Santa climbed stairs delivering his presents, Big12Hoops calculated that he would climb the equivalent of 9.5 billion stairs. He would burn 0.11 calories for each stair, or 1.045 billion calories. That’s far fewer than 13 billion calories, but it’s still a whole lot of energy expenditure that would leave him mighty thin, maybe so thin that he could slip through a crack on Christmas morning.

Does Santa Need All The Milk and Cookies Left Out For Him?

Two small cookies and a cup of skim milk (no full fat dairy for Santa, he might have cholesterol issues) clock in at about 200 calories. If Santa snacked at each of the 92 million households, he would chow down on 18.4 billion calories.

That would mean he would gain 1,529,350 pounds every Christmas. If he walked instead of rode in his sleigh –Rudolph is probably well-trained enough to take the lead without Santa’s hands on the reins — he’d have to circle the earth 1,183 times to burn off the extra calories from the milk and cookies.

What If Santa Snacked On Veggies Instead Of Cookies?

If Santa had a cup of carrot and celery sticks rather than cookies and milk at each house, he’d be eating just 50 calories — which would add up to 4.6 billion calories for the evening. Since he burns off 13 billion calories by walking, he’d actually lose so much weight that he’d disappear from sight.

Maybe the best idea for him would be to have a nice combination of veggies at most households and cookies and low fat milk every thousand or so households. That probably would keep him happy, energetic, and in caloric balance!

But … Santa has been delivering presents and eating cookies for a very long time. He magically reappears every year as jolly as ever. He seems to be doing quite nicely with his usual routine, don’t you think?

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

Do You Swipe Candy From Your Kid’s Halloween Haul?

October 30, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

ghostsswipecandy

Ah — Halloween candy! It’s pretty hard to escape because it’s everywhere – on desks, in restaurants, even in my veterinarian’s office in a nice purple bowl with a dog bone painted on the side.

Halloween week accounts for about eight percent of yearly confectionery sales and 34% of seasonal candy sales (like Christmas and Valentine’s Day). Only Easter, the next largest candy holiday, comes close.

FYI: The top five candies of all time — click here for the list of the top 50 – even though you might not agree:

M&Ms
Hershey’s Kisses
Snickers
Twizzlers
Reese’s Peanut Cups

Can’t resist – do you invade your kid’s Trick or Treat bag — what do you go for first?

Don’t feel guilty — If you’ve ever swiped candy from your kid’s trick or treat bag, you’re certainly not alone. According to the National Confectioners Association, 90% of parents confess they occasionally dip into their kid’s stash. I know I sure did.

It’s been estimated that, on average, a child in the US collects between 3,500 and 7,000 worth of candy calories on Halloween night.

Parents invade that collection big time — they eat one candy bar out of every two a child brings home. Their favorite targets are snack-sized chocolate bars (70%), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40%), caramels (37%) and gum (26%).

In Case You Want To Pick The Least Caloric Candy . . .

Here are the calories in some popular Halloween candy – just in case you might want to minimize the caloric damage (you didn’t read that wrong — candy has a big range of calories and fat grams) – and, just so you know — minis are small square candies while snack-size and fun-size are usually about 2 inches long:

25 calories or less:

3 Musketeers, Mini
Hershey’s Kiss
Smarties Candy Roll

30 – 50 calories each:

Airheads, Mini Bar
Kit Kat, Miniature
Milky Way, Mini
Peppermint Pattie, Fun size
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Miniature
Snickers, Miniature
Starburst, 2 Fun Size pieces
Twix Caramel Cookie Bars, Mini

50 to 70 calories each:

3 Musketeers, Fun Size
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, snack size
Jolly Ranchers Lollipop
Skittles, Fun Size Bag
Sour Patch Kids, Treat Size
Swedish Fish, Treat Size
Tootsie Roll Pop

70 to 85 calories each:

Brach’s Candy Corn: 10 pieces
Butterfinger, Fun Size
Kit Kat, Fun size; 73 calories
Milky Way, Fun Size
M&Ms, Fun size bag
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Fun size
Snickers, Fun Size
Tootsie Rolls, 3 midgee pieces

How To Pair Wine With Halloween Candy

October 26, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

How to pair wine with chocolate

Halloween candy isn’t only for kids. Neither are Halloween parties. So, if you’re an adult, why not have some wine with your candy – whether it’s the candy you bought for trick or treaters or what you snag from your kid’s collection.

There are all kinds of opinions about what wine goes well with what candy. Experts will tell you that you should consider and/or the wine’s sweetness, acidity, flavor and whether or not it’s sparkling. Since most candy is really sweet – especially the Halloween trick or treat kind –“outsweeting” the candy is tough to do!

Ultimately, your choice boils down to what you like, but here’s a synopsis of the recommendations that I’ve found – click on the links for more information about the various wine pairings.

The Pairings

Fresher, fruit forward wines are great to pair with fruity candy. Sparkling rosés go really well with gummy bears and worms and Starbursts, especially the pink and yellow ones. The strawberry and cherry notes in the wine mirror some of the red fruit flavors in the candy and the refreshing fizz helps to wash the sugar down. Other Starburst recommended pairings are light reds such as Pinot Noir, St. Laurent, Zweigelt or Gamay or sweet whites such as Reisling, Moscato, Malvasia.

Nerds go best with sparkling wines like champagne, proseco, cava, and sparkling rose.

The high acidity in Chenin Blanc off sets the sweetness in Jollyranchers.

Skittles also go well with the sweet whites or dry whites such as white table wine, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio.

The sweet creaminess of the yellow, orange, and white mellow crème kernels of Candy Corn and pumpkins can pair with sweet whites, and rich whites such as Chardonnay, Marsanne, or Viognier, sparkling wines, and Port. The trick is to pick a Chardonnay or other wine that retains enough vibrant acidity to cut through the super sweet sugary candy. Or you can just keep shoving handfuls of candy corn into your mouth without allowing time to sip!

KitKat and 3 Musketeers are lighter and fluffier and pair well with sparkling wines and medium reds such as red table wine, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Grenache.

Try a Muscat with sugary Smarties.

Tootsie rolls will always stick to your teeth and pair well with the light reds.

Butterfingers go with the rich whites and the dessert wines such as late harvest ice wines, Sherry, Port, Tawny Port, and Ruby Port.

Twix pairs with dessert wines and with bold reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Monastrell, Malbec, and Syrah. The sweetness of ice wines will also likely taste delicious with the caramel, cookies, and chocolate in Twix.

The cherry undertones of Pinot Noir pair nicely with Twizzlers – you could even dunk!

Reese’s pieces, those wonderful bites of peanut butter and chocolate, can go with the light reds, bold reds, and dessert wines. Or try a cool climate California Syrah which will complement the chocolate in the peanut butter cups and with other peanut butter candy bars.

Another recommendation for nutty, chocolate candy is to pair it with wine that balances the sugar and cream from the milk chocolate and the salt from the peanuts and peanut butter. The strong acidic factors in Spanish Sherry make it a great pairing because it cuts through the fat and, depending on the aging, tends to have a nice nutty quality. German Rieslings also pair well.

The strong, sweet, creamy taste of Port pairs quite well with chocolate, caramel, and peanuts like the combo found in Snickers and with classic Caramels.

Heath Bar (one of my all time favorites) goes well with the dessert wines.

M&Ms, while they’re melting in your mouth and not in your hands, can be washed down with the bold and medium reds. Try a red Zinfandel.

For the coconut lovers, the harsh tannins in Cabernet Sauvignon pair well with the dark chocolate and coconut in Mounds.

Sour Patch Kids – maybe aptly named — don’t seem to pair well with anything except a puckering mouth, but you can try a bubbly NV Rosé.

If there are some caramel apples to bite into, the toastiness of caramel and butterscotch might pair well with Muscat or Gewürztraminer because the acidity of the white wine should stand up well to the sweetness of caramel. If you want to focus on the apple flavor, try ice wine, Sauternes, or a late-harvest Sauvignon Blanc.

And why not pair a Grand Cru Bordeaux with a 100 Grand Bar?

And then there’s chocolate with huge range of strong flavors including sweet, bitter, fruity and even acidic – flavors that don’t pair well with standard dry table wine. After a bite of a rich chocolate it won’t have any flavor. So try a sweet dessert wine instead. Its richness will enhance the flavor of both.

Here are some things to consider for chocolate pairings: think about choosing a wine that’s as sweet as the chocolate or try pairing by color – the darker the chocolate, the darker the wine. consider the bitterness and texture. Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and dark chocolate are an excellent classic pairing because the bitterness in the chocolate is similar in texture to the tannins in the wine.

Milk chocolate Hershey bars will always be someone’s favorite and they go with most wines, especially the rich and sweet whites and the light and medium reds. With the more bitter Hershey’s Dark chocolate, try a red Syrah.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Impress Everyone With Candy Corn Trivia

October 17, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

8 Great Candy Corn Facts

It’s orange, yellow and white candy corn time. No matter how hard you wish it, the candy shaped like a kernel of corn can’t substitute for a veggie. Those little tri-colored triangles have celebrated over 130 birthdays and are still going strong. Here are 8 sweet things you probably never knew about candy corn:

Candy corn was created in the 1880s by the Wunderlee Candy Company. It was popular among farmers who loved the corn kernel shaped candy that looked different from other candy. The Goelitz Candy Company, famous for their candy corn, began selling their brand around 1900. They still make candy corn today, but their company name has changed to the Jelly Belly Candy Company (guess what else they make!).

Candy corn is over 130 years old. It’s a “mellow cream,” a type of candy that’s made from corn syrup and sugar with a marshmallow kind of flavor. It tastes rich, but it’s actually fat-free.

The original three colors of candy corn — orange, yellow, and white — mimic a corn kernel, although each piece of candy is about three times the size of an actual kernel. The bottom of the triangular candy is yellow, it’s orange in the middle, and the pointy end is white.

Although 75% of the annual candy corn production is for Halloween, you can find it year round in varying holiday colors.

Indian corn has a chocolate brown wide end, orange center and pointed white tip, often available around Thanksgiving
Reindeer corn, the Christmas variety, is red, green, and white
Cupid corn for Valentine’s Day is red, pink, and white
Bunny corn for Easter is only a two-color candy and comes with a variety of pastel bases (pink, green, yellow, and purple) with white tips.

Some facts about Brach’s Candy Corn:

There are nineteen pieces of candy corn in a serving.
A serving has140 calories (7.4 calories per kernel), zero grams of fat, 70 mg of sodium, 36 grams of carbs, and no protein.
A large bag of Brach’s candy corn is 22 ounces and has about 300 pieces.
Ingredients in Brach’s candy corn: sugar, corn syrup, confectioner’s sugar glaze, salt, honey, dextrose, artificial flavor, gelatin, titanium dioxide color, yellow 6, yellow 5, red 3, blue 1, sesame oil.

According to the National Confectioners Association:

candy makers will produce nearly 35 million pounds of candy corn this year equal to about 9 billion individual kernels of corn — enough to circle the moon nearly 21 times if laid end-to-end
candy corn is so popular that it has its own day: October 30 is National Candy Corn Day.

How candy corn is made:

Originally it was made by hand. Sugar, water, and corn syrup were cooked into a slurry (the consistency of thin mud) in large kettles. Fondant (a sweet, creamy paste made from corn syrup, sugar, and water) and marshmallow were whipped in to give it a smooth texture and a soft bite.
The hot mixture was poured into “runners,” or hand-held buckets that held 45 pounds of candy mixture. Men called “stringers” walked backwards as they poured the steaming mixture into trays coated with cornstarch and imprinted with kernel-shaped molds. They made three passes; one each for the orange, white and yellow colors.
Today, the recipe is much the same but production is mechanized. A machine fills trays of kernel-shaped holes with cornstarch to hold the candy in corn triangle shapes, then the holes are partially filled with white syrup, then orange syrup, followed by yellow syrup. The mixture is allowed to cool and harden for about 24 hours, then a machine empties the tray, the kernels fall into chutes and they are glazed to make them shine.

A survey of Americans found:

8%think the whole piece of candy corn should be eaten at once
7% think you should be start eating at the narrow, white end 10.6% like to start eating at the wider yellow end.

Stingy Jack and the Jack O’Lantern

October 8, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Stingy Jack and the Devil

The story goes that the Jack-O’-Lantern comes from a legend that goes back hundreds of years in Irish history.

It’s said that a miserable old drunk named Stingy Jack — who liked to play tricks on his family, friends, and even the Devil — tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. Stingy Jack then put crosses around the apple tree’s trunk so the Devil couldn’t get down — but made a bargain that if the Devil promised not to take Stingy Jack’s soul when he died he would remove the crosses and let the Devil down.

When Jack died, Saint Peter, at the pearly gates of Heaven, told him that he couldn’t enter Heaven because he was mean, cruel, and had led a miserable and worthless life. Stingy Jack then went down to Hell but the Devil wouldn’t take him in.

Ultimate payback! Jack was scared and with nowhere to go he had to wander around in the darkness between Heaven and Hell.

Stingy Jack, Jack-o-Lanterns, and Halloween

Halloween, or the Hallow E’en in Ireland and Scotland, is short for All Hallows Eve, or the night before All Hallows. On All Hallows Eve the Irish made Jack-O’-Lanterns by hollowing out turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes, and beets and put lights in them to keep away both the evil spirits and Stingy Jack.

In the 1800′s when Irish immigrants came to America, they discovered that pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve, and the pumpkin became the Jack-o’-lantern.

If You Want To Eat Your Pumpkin . . .

Jumping from legend to fact: pumpkins are Cucurbitaceae, a family of vegetables that includes cucumbers and melons. They are fat free and can be baked, steamed, or canned.

One cup of pumpkin has about 30 calories, is high in vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, and other nutrients like folate, manganese, and omega 3′s. Pumpkin is filled with the anti-oxidant beta-carotene, which gives it its rich orange color. It can be used many ways and can be added to baked goods and blended with many foods.

Although delicious, unlike pumpkin which is low in calories, pumpkin seeds aren’t. They are a good source of iron, copper, and zinc and have 126 calories in an ounce (about 85 seeds) and 285 calories in a cup.